


Cold Hands, Warm Hearts

by Jarl_Deathwolf



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Identity Reveal, Snowball Fight, Snowmen, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Winter Wonderland
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:34:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28303893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jarl_Deathwolf/pseuds/Jarl_Deathwolf
Summary: Adrien and Marinette just finished their school project, but it looks like Adrien will have to stay over longer thanks to a blizzard. With a whole lot of extra time on their hands (not to mention a whole lot of snow), the two of them are in for a snow day they'll never forget.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 29
Kudos: 260





	Cold Hands, Warm Hearts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [clslovegood47](https://archiveofourown.org/users/clslovegood47/gifts).



> Hello and welcome to the second of a handful of secret santa fics that I've written for the season! This one is for clslovegood47, one of my friends from multiple discords and zines! I hope you (and everyone else, of course) enjoy!

“And…” Adrien’s eyes swiftly moved over the last few slides of their presentation. A smile grew as he reached the end. “Looks like that’s it!”

“Y-yeah,” Marinette replied. “We finished the whole thing.”

She tried not to let either her disappointment or her relief show. Having Adrien over for the last hour had been both the most wonderful and the most stressful thing she’d gone through all week. Adrien! In _her_ room, sitting in one of _her_ chairs! Working on a school project with _her!_ It had done more to get her poor heart racing than the last two akuma battles that week.

Maybe it was for the best that he’d be leaving soon. At least then she could melt into a puddle all by herself, without anyone around to judge her.

Marinette poked a thumb towards the trapdoor.

“Head downstairs, want to?” Marinette screamed on the inside, but Adrien didn’t seem to mind.

“Sure! We can hang out for a little while until the gorilla picks me up.”

Breathing a sigh of relief that just so happened to give her a good smell of his cologne, Marinette followed after him. When they got to the bottom, Adrien stepped into the kitchen to call home, and Marinette walked into the living room to give him space. 

Which is when she noticed that the view from outside their window was a lot more white than she remembered it being when they left school that day. Sure, it had been pretty chilly as they crossed the street to her house, but… 

Paris was covered in a fresh white sheet of snow and it showed no signs of slowing down. Just as she was marveling at the scenery and thinking that she was glad that she didn’t have to go anywhere, Adrien walked into the room. He had a sheepish smile on his face and was rubbing the back of his neck.

“Looks like the Gorilla can’t pick me up since the roads are going to be closed for a while. I guess I’m stuck here… if you don’t mind me hanging out for a little while longer?”

“Of course, son!” Marinette jumped as her dad appeared out of nowhere. Had he been in the living room the whole time and she just hadn’t noticed, lost in an Adrien-induced haze? “You can even stay the night if you need too!”

“Careful,” Adrien warned with a half smile. “I might have to take you up on that offer.”

“And it’d be our pleasure if you did. Oh!” Her dad’s eyes widened. “This would be the perfect time for some fresh baked cookies! I’ll get right on that.” He disappeared around the corner, but after a moment popped his head back into the room. “Make sure to entertain our guest, sweetie!”

Marinette stared at the doorway for a long moment and swallowed before prying her gaze toward Adrien. He was staring blissfully at her, an undisturbed smile on his face.

“S-sorry about all this.” She took a seat on the couch. “I’m sure you’ve got better things to do than be stuck here all day.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Adrien replied. Was it just her or did he sit a little closer than he needed to? “I’m sure father will be disappointed, but I’m definitely not.” He leaned in slightly with a smile and exaggerated wink. “Promise.”

There was a long period of silence, listening to the snow falling outside and the gentle wind carrying it. Marinette couldn’t find any topics of conversation at all, reduced to just staring at her hands in her lap and screaming at herself to talk, to say _something_. But eventually, it was Adrien that spoke up first.

“Does your dad usually make cookies during blizzards?”

“Huh?” She blinked before recognition hit. “Oh! Yeah, it’s something we used to do a lot when I was younger. You know,” she ticked off each point on her hand, “we baked cookies, watched movies. Usually after we’d go out and made snowmen.”

“I wish we’d done that growing up.” There was a sad tinge to Adrien’s smile.

“What, make cookies? D-don’t worry! You’ll get some.”

“No, no.” Adrien shook his head. “Make snowmen. Or play outside in the snow at all, really.”

“Seriously?” Marinette’s jaw dropped and she forgot her nervousness as she turned to look at him. “Not one snowman? Or a snowball fight? Even just… making a snow angel or something?”

Adrien shook his head solemnly. “None of it. Father was always busy and mom… well, she had always been in poor health for as long as I could remember. It got worse later, but…” He cleared his throat and looked out the window. “...so, um, yeah. None of that for me.”

Clenching her fists at her side, Marinette suddenly stood up and stomped to the front door, ignoring Adrien calling out to her. Opening it slightly, she reached out a hand and grabbed some of the snow. She nodded to herself as she packed it nicely into a ball before dropping it again.

“What was-”

“We’re going outside, maman!” Marinette shouted down the hall.

“Where are you heading?” Maman answered back.

“Over to the park. We’re going to have fun in the snow while it lasts.”

Her mom stepped out of the bedroom, eyebrows furrowed. “Sure, dear, just… make sure to bundle up, okay?”

“We will!” 

After watching her put on several extra layers, Adrien followed her lead. By the time they were ready to leave, they were wrapped in gloves, double jackets, warm sweaters, boots, and hats. They were about as warm and snug as they could be. Or, at least Marinette was. She just hoped that Adrien’s stylish Agreste-brand winter clothes were actually functional as well as fashionable. If they weren’t, then she was going to be having _words_ with Gabriel.

Thankfully her fears proved unfounded when they stepped outside and Adrien barely flinched at the cold. Gabriel would go without being chastised… for now.

The two of them went out- but not like on a date, Marinette quickly mentally corrected herself, her heart skipping a beat. Went out to the park- went _outside_ , she should say. 

Taking a deep breath of cold air to cool herself down, she tried to focus on the task at hand. They had just finished trudging across the street and had made it to the park. It seemed like the cold and ongoing snowfall had scared off most people. It probably would have made her stay home too - Marinette really didn’t like the cold - but knowing she could just cross the street to get back to the warmth of home gave her extra courage. 

Well, that and she was on a mission. How could she let something as small as freezing temperatures and snow get in the way of making sure her friend had fun? She held onto that thought as a way to keep her warm despite the chill. 

“I think this will be a good spot to get started,” Marinette said, stopping in the middle of an open space. Some snow had already started to pile up against a wall, a perfect place to begin. 

“I’ll take your word for it!” Adrien said with a smile partially concealed by his blue scarf. The same one she’d made for him. Realization made her heart flutter, but she quickly stamped down on it. 

No! No getting flustered! Serious business here.

“Right, so.” Marinette cleared her throat and crouched down to get started. Adrien hurriedly did the same and their heads almost collided. After shooting him a nervous smile, she swallowed and tried to get back on track. “So we start by rolling a little snow into a ball, right?”

“Okay…” Adrien watched her with rapt attention as she scooped up some snow and pacted it in her hands. “...I feel like this might take a while if you’re doing it by hand?”

“Be patient, we’ll get there,” Marinette chidded with a smirk. She packed the snow a little more and nodded to herself. “There!”

“Is that-” He cut himself off with a gasp when she dropped the snowball to the ground. His eyes widened when she started pushing it along the ground and it started growing exponentially in size. “Ohhh!”

“See? It's not all that hard.” She finished pushing it, ending up with a ball of snow about waist high. “Now you try!”

He bobbed his head and scooped up some snow before pushing it around on the ground, Staying crouched, he followed it around with quick, shuffling steps that left him practically doubled over. She couldn’t help but let out a giggle at the scene. Giggling which turned into full blown laughter when he noticed it was a little lopsided and overcompensated, ending up with a lumpy mess of a ball.

Lumpy or not, his eyes sparkled with joy when he picked it up and sat it on top of the other one. She barely even needed to help him with it - mostly just holding it in place while he kept it from falling off. Now the snowman stood at about chest height to the two of them. 

“One more of those and you’ll never be able to say that you haven’t made a snowman before.” 

She bumped his shoulder with her fist and winced internally. Was that too familiar? Was she moving too fast with the shoulder bump? He didn’t seem to mind as he immediately got to work making the snowman’s head, humming something that sounded Christmasy to himself.

“Aren’t we missing something?” Adrien was crossing his arms in front of the completed snowman, which now loomed head and shoulders over them. 

“Like w-what?” 

“Arms… coal and a carrot for the face.” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, looking a little sheepish after saying it out loud. “Maybe, um... a scarf or hat?” 

“I, uh, I don’t really want to mess up one of my pieces for the sake of a snowman.” She figeted with her mitten-covered hands and gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry!”

“Oh! No, I’m sorry I didn’t even think about that.” Shooting her a half smile, he mumbled out, “And I doubt anyone just has coal lying around, so…” He looked at the snowman and hummed thoughtfully. His eyes flew open wide and he grabbed her by the shoulders. “Wait, I just had a great idea!”

Marinette made a noise that made have been ‘huh’, but which came out more like, “Hrnk?”

“We should have a snowman making competition! We’ll do maybe like an hour and then see who won!”

The word competition stirred something up in Marinette that was very, very nearly stronger than the stammering and shyness that always gripped her whenever Adrien was around. At her heart, Marinette loved a good contest, loved showing off the best she could do.

But against Adrien? Who had only just started making snowmen?

“I don’t-”

“Ready set go!” Adrien shouted before sprinting off to a different part of the park, looking more animated than she had ever really seen him. Gone was the reserved politeness that he usually carried on him like a coat. Now… he was just a kid having a great time.

Something about the giddy look on his face and the way he ran reminded her of someone, but she couldn’t quite place it. Especially not when she realized he had a whole ten second lead on her now. Her eyes widened and she dashed off to her own side of the park and got to work, putting all other thoughts aside.

How well had he picked up the art of snowman building? Should she hold back or go full force? She shook her head. No way was she going to pull a punch - if anyone was going to challenge her, then they were going to get her at her best. Even if that person is Adrien.

Her hand twitched as her heartbeat sped up at just thinking his name, very nearly maring the perfect smooth sphere she’d made for the base of her first snowman. She gently tapped her head and focused, doing her best to just get lost in the act of creation.

Of course, that didn’t last all too long since making a snowman wasn’t exactly time consuming. But as she looked at the three snowballs placed on top of each other, she thought back to what Adrien had said. Maybe there _was_ something she could add - or, better yet, put some of those sculpting lessons they’d started in art class to good use. How different could snow and clay be, right?

There was a few fumbling steps, but she managed to turn the three spheres into something almost like… well, her. Her as Ladybug, that is. As least as well as it could be turned into her on her first try. The pigtails were there and she’d lightly carved out a furrow where her mask and spots would be.

After that, her next snowman seemed to be a given. She especially had fun making the pair of triangle cat ears and hunting down a stick that could work as his tail. Not to mention giving Chat Blanc- she winced and thought up a different name. She gave Snow Chat the tiny fangs that she always wished that he had. 

She had managed to just finish a Rena Blanc and… Frozopace? Winter Carapace? Alya and Nino’s super snow alter egos. Both of them were finished just in time for Adrien to yell over the whistling wind that their time was up. 

Marinette put a few final touches on them before putting her hands on her hips, beaming at how well they’d turned out. 

“Oh wow! Those are really neat,” came a voice right at her shoulder.

“Gah!” Marinette jumped and nearly lost her footing in the snow that had been packed by her own pacing. Thankfully, Adrien caught her elbow and steadied her. “O-oh, th-thanks!”

Adrien’s brow furrowed. “Are you getting cold? You sound like you’re shivering.”

“N-no, I’m fine!” She held up her hands to assure him.

“Okay… well, anyway, these are pretty _cool_!” Adrien smirked and turned back to the set she’d made, spaced out a few meters from each other. That… couldn’t have been a pun, right? Sure, he’d said some before, but he never seemed this proud of them before. He was walking around the four and paused to look especially hard at Chat Noir. “I didn’t know you were such a big fan of Paris’s superheroes! You really got their details down.”

Marinette smiled. “Thanks, Adrien.”

“So,” Adrien said, turning back to her. “Where are the other snowmen?”

“...Others?”

“Well yeah! It was a competition to make a bunch, right?”

Marinette blinked. “...What?”

“Yeah!” He started jogging toward where he had been working. “Come on, look how many I made!”

A little confused, Marinette followed him to a big field of thrown-together snowmen. There had to have been at least two dozen of them. They came in all sizes, ranging from as big as the one they’d made together to cat-sized ones made of two snowballs. Speaking of cats - almost all of them had cat ears. It was practically their only unifying quality, but that was more because they were slapped together so haphazardly that each of them had ended up looking uniquely lumpy.

Adrien proudly stood among them, hands on his hips and beaming so wide that she could see his smile even with the scarf over his mouth.

“So that means I win, right?” Adrien watched her with that radiant grin, completely unaware of how much it needled her to hear him say that. “Since I’ve got so many more snowmen than you and all that?”

“That’s- but-” Marinette took a calming breath. “Shouldn’t quality come into this? Not that yours aren’t good!” She added hastily, not wanting to hurt his feelings. “But I made four really good snowmen, right? That has to be worth something.”

“Maybe, but look at their faces.” Adrien put his face next to one of his snow catboys and pouted. “Surely they’re as good as the heroes of Paris?”

Marinette wasn’t sure how long they argued the point, neither side willing to concede defeat. Even if it was clear from Marinette’s perspective that she had unquestionably won this match. 

Looking back, she couldn’t quite remember the comment that had set her off, but she could _definitely_ recall how she vented her frustration.

Her heart sank as she watched, frozen in her throwing position, as Adrien - the love of her life - wiped a heap of snow off of his face. A face which had watched in innocent curiosity as she had picked up and packed into a ball the very snow that he was wiping off right now.

Her hands flew to her mouth as her blush spread across her entire face. What had she been thinking? Just because they were bantering with each other and he was irritating her didn’t mean she could just act like he was _Chat Noir_ or something. Moving from covering her mouth to her eyes, she rapidly shook her head and tried to apologize.

“I- I’m sorry, Adrien! I don’t know what- I didn’t-” 

Her stammering was cut off when something smacked into her sternum. She blinked and took her hands off her face to look down, noticing the snow that was even now falling off her white jacket. Still processing that, she look up at Adrien just in time to see him packing another snowball. His scarf had been lowered from his mouth to his neck, letting her see the huge, excited grin that had spread across his face.

With wild eyes, he looked up at her and said, “Only one way to find out the winner now!” He tossed the snowball at her, but she managed to duck aside and it went wide. By the time she looked back, he’d taken cover behind his snow catboys and shouted, “SNOWBALL FIGHT!”

Before long the air was being filled with thrown snow. Most of the time they were just thrown without aiming, just enough to keep the other person’s head down behind their snowmen. As her snow alter ego that she was hiding behind was being pelted with snowballs, Marinette took the time to make an armful of ammunition before sneaking around the hill and into the Catboy Fields. 

Thanks to her white jacket and the falling snow, Adrien was still blindly letting loose against her four heroes, completely unaware that she was setting up base to his side.

He was mid throw when he finally noticed her, but by then she’d leapt out of cover and was pelting his side with snow balls. He fled his position, laughing all the while as she gave chase. Unfortunately, his catboys really were numerous and before long she lost him. She tossed the last of her snowballs towards where he’d disappeared to and made a couple more before slowly stalking through the cat-ear’d horde. 

The wind swirled the snowflakes in the air. She narrowed her eyes. Where was he?

She got her answer just a moment later when she heard a very, very familiar battlecry.

“CATACLYSM!”

Her world suddenly became very cold and very white as a snowman sized snowball was slam dunked on her. Between the shock that Chat Noir had apparently shown up and the force behind the snow boulder, she slipped and nearly fell. Thankfully, someone caught her wrists and pulled her up.

“Sorry, Marinette! I guess I got a little carried away there.” 

Adrien took a hand - but only one - off her wrists and rubbed the back of his neck, a small but genuine smile on his lips as he looked away. There was barely any space between them and Marinette was feeling much, much warmer than she was just a second ago. Adrien didn’t seem to notice - both her distress, and just how close they were.

There was a sudden clarity as she stared at him, like seeing the sun poke out between storm clouds. How could she have never noticed it before?

Putting on her slyest smile, she replied, “Oh, you’re fine. Remember how cold it was when we took on Frozer? Now _that_ was chilly.”

Adrien chuckled. “Yeah, I guess it-”

His eyes widened and he stared down at her, slack jawed. 

“But that means- but you can’t-” He put his fingers on his chin, still not breaking eye contact with her. “But you _definitely_ could-” He swallowed heavily and asked in a reverent whisper, “...My lady?”

Her heart nearly exploded at hearing those words come from Adrien’s mouth - but then again, she already had heard them before, hadn’t she? Over and over and over again.

“Chaton...” She raised her mitten-covered hand and cupped his chin. 

\-----------------------

Half an hour later, they were back inside. They’d peeled off their winter gear and thrown it haphazardly into a pile in her room and replaced them with a nice, warm blanket that they shared as they sat cuddled together on the couch.

Marinette closed her eyes as she rested her head against Adrien’s shoulder, hands wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate. But it wasn’t the blanket or the drink or the body heat that was keeping the chill at bay. 

As Paris was blanketed in snow and cold, love kept Marinette and Adrien warm.


End file.
